Imagining Residences for Villains: Ben Pennell's 3rd-Year Architecture Studio
April 2, 2023
Ben Pennell’s third-year architecture studio recently displayed their progress work in the lobby. The models and drawings are part of a year-long project to imagine individual residences for James Bond villains, containing both domestic spaces and additional programmatic elements that correspond to a certain villain.
From Pennell’s project description:
“Certain clients wish to melt the polar ice caps, requiring a large reflective mirror to gather the energy of the sun. Others wish to initiate a nuclear apocalypse, requiring a large missile-launch station. There’s a Garden of Eden, as well, in which visitors suffocate to death from carbon dioxide inhalation. There’s a zoo with exotic animals poached from god knows where. A museum of floating corpses. A casino. A black market stock exchange, an offshore oil drill.
In short, we insist that architecture need not be beneficial to mankind. Perhaps it is best when it is a manifestation of pure evil; one person’s ludicrous desire to have the world for themself or destroy it entirely.”